Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is a housing crisis in Australia, and local, state and federal governments must all strive together to solve it. In a complex society, I believe that government has a duty to provide adequate housing for every person, so I thank the member for Hughes for raising the issue of housing with this motion, as housing is an important issue and one which we must address continually in this place.

The motion itself, of course, is quite wrongheaded, and I speak against it for two reasons. Firstly, the motion by the member for Hughes fails to address causes. Does anyone actually think that the housing crisis which exists currently suddenly arose over the last two years? No, they absolutely do not. The member for Hughes has conveniently omitted the fact that we have a housing crisis today due to the inadequate responses by federal and state governments to the issue over a much longer period. The member for Hughes was elected at the same time as I was, in 2022, and perhaps doesn't feel that she should have to carry the can for the inadequate coalition administrations that preceded us. But what is clear, and what we have been reminded of by the sordid Nemesis program on the ABC, is that many, or most, coalition members over the nine years before 2022 were much too busy focusing on and hating each other; they preferred that to actually doing the work and making the commitments required to put a roof over anyone's head. Secondly, the motion fails to recognise the work done in two short years by this government, often working closely with the states and sometimes with the Independents and other parties. This is quite surprising, given especially that the Liberal and National parties manage to find themselves getting in the way and slowing this very important legislation down.

So it's a hopeless motion, and one from a party which does not in fact appear to have any policies in this or any other area. I've got some advice, though, for the member for Hughes. Two things are true in politics, and one is that governments must stand on their record come election time—and I'll come to our government's record presently. But what was the coalition's record in housing? It seemed to be around encouraging people without wealth to raid their superannuation balances. The other thing is that prospective governments must offer policy alternatives. Time is running out for the Liberal and National parties to actually create some policies before the next election.

The Albanese government was elected with a mandate to act on housing, and, notwithstanding the lack of respect for the mandate from others in parliament and especially from the coalition, who loved to bleat about mandate when they were in government, we have acted. We have created the Housing Australia Future Fund—$10 billion in perpetuity to support social and affordable housing. The expanded Home Guarantee Scheme is also helping a growing number of key workers, such as teachers, nurses and social workers, to purchase a home, with around 7,720 guarantees issued to key workers in 2022-23, up 37 per cent already from 2021-22. And we announced the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator in June 2023, which will increase Australia's housing supply by creating thousands of social homes across Australia. We've helped over 10,000 people in regional Australia with the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee in just its first year, providing a government guarantee of up to 15 per cent for eligible homebuyers so that regional Australians, with a deposit of as little as five per cent, can avoid paying lenders mortgage insurance. We've worked with states and territories to deliver the Help to Buy scheme, supporting up to 40,000 low- and middle-income families to purchase a home of their own through an equity contribution.

This is important work, and I'm sure it's appreciated by one house family after another. It's important all over Australia, not less so in Hasluck, where we have over 53 per cent of families paying a mortgage and a further 18 per cent renting. This week we have the Help to Buy bill in the House. The opposition didn't exactly cover itself in glory with opposing the Housing Australia Future Fund, and it's looking like it's repeating the error with the Help to Buy bill. This is the opposition that's always happy to bleat on about having a mandate when they get elected. The member for Hughes pretends to be interested in housing policy, but she should have supported the Housing Australia Future Fund bill. She should support every other bill brought before this parliament that is aimed at relieving the housing crisis, or she should bring her own bill, rather than motions like this one.

I congratulate Minister Collins on the work she has done thus far to assist tens of thousands of Australians into a home on the great legacy that the HAFF will leave to future generations and on the current bill, which will bring homeownership within the reach of many people who would not be able to access the market without it.

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